Paul/Character
Paul's only concern in his is of their strength in . He strongly dislikes weak Pokémon and has a tendency of them if they do not meet his expectations. To this effect, Paul always checks new with his Pokédex to learn what moves they know and the Pokémon he keeps harshly to make them strong. He feels that bonding with Pokémon would only turn them into slackers. He has a habit of scolding his Pokémon for losing to opponents he feels they could have beaten, especially . He has also demonstrated similar behavior to , and . Paul can be very callous and even brutal, especially in battle. As a result, he has been shown to display very little emotion other than an occasional rough smile when dealing with Ash. He has also been shown to have a certain degree of athleticism, as seen in Different Strokes for Different Blokes when he and Chimchar were able to downwardly scale a cliff of a waterfall near Bewilder Forest by swinging and leaping from rocks and branches. His catchphrase when calling out Pokémon is ", standby for battle!". As revealed in Lost Leader Strategy!, Paul occasionally gives some of his Pokémon to his brother Reggie for temporary training and caretaking. He disagrees with his brother for giving up on being a Pokémon Trainer after failing to get the Brave Symbol from and feels his brother's approach and view on this to be wrong. Paul originally felt that Ash was a weak Trainer when they first met, as shown by the capture of when he questioned Ash about how strong Starly was. Ash's very different attitude towards Pokémon also provided much fuel to their rivalry. Despite that, Paul barely recognized Ash as a serious Trainer and a rival, often ignoring his speeches about loving Pokémon. However, Paul's first hint of respect for Ash was shown in A Pyramiding Rage!, when he was very surprised to hear that Ash had won his own Brave Symbol from Brandon in a Pokémon battle. Notably, after this discovery and his subsequent defeat at the hands of Brandon, Paul would cease his more cruel tendencies, in the process becoming more subdued and focused. While still being at odds with Ash, he would no longer mock his abilities as a Trainer. His change in attitude was shown after his victories against Ash and Barry, where, despite their losses, he would not dismiss their efforts like before and would even compliment them on a hard-fought battle. After a long, tough battle in Sinnoh's Pokémon League Conference, Paul ended up losing to Ash, and in doing so, gained respect for him and ended their bitter rivalry. Although Paul found most of the Pokémon in Ash's party at the time to be weak, he had shown a particular interest in his , as shown in A Gruff Act To Follow!. Paul was also angered by how Ash "contradicts" himself by criticizing Paul's methods and then using similar ones, such as entering the Wallace Cup, despite Ash's motivations being clearly different than Paul's. Paul appears to feel indifference to , showing that he didn't even bother to remember her name in A Gruff Act to Follow. However, he talks to her about Ash in Familiarity Breeds Strategy!, confessing his main problem with Ash is his talk about bringing out a Pokémon's inner strength through his bond with them and how any Pokémon has the potential to be strong reminds him a lot of Reggie. Paul shows mild respect as well as distaste towards , probably because Brock supports Ash's view on Pokémon. Paul does show respect for his elders, such as Professor Rowan, Cynthia, Nurse Joy and Brandon. While he respects Professor Rowan and Nurse Joy for their wisdom and positions, he only respects Cynthia and Brandon for their abilities as Trainers. He is shown to have no respect for Gym Leaders who he feels are weak. For example, he was shown to respect Roark whom he judged to be a worthy opponent in the end, but he was openly rude and mean to Maylene.